Today on the way home from my bus stop a small woman on the side of the road caught my eye. She was quite dirty and crouched in a rather ordinary spot. In front of her she had a small trash bag in which she displayed a single live cat fish. I'm mystified by how this catfish was living but I saw it move. This woman was not selling several fish, just one, so if anyone was to purchase that fish there would be no illusions of previous satisfied customers. This fish would require a serious risk taker.
These are the thoughts that fill my head as I wonder through Shanghai.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Off To Beijing
Being an a teacher at in International School definitely has its perks. I'm flying to Beijing today to go to a three day educational conference. I'll do my best to explore and post some photos when I return.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Equal Rights and Cultural Differences
Several times in my teaching career I have covered historical issues that relate to power differences. It is a part of human history that society is organized with those in power, who usually control wealth, and those who are poor and at beholden to the elites. I have a fun lesson that has worked throughout the years to help students really feel a power inequity. The essence of the lesson is this.
1) Divide students groups of 4 or 5.
2) Make one student in each group the leader.
3) Give each group a large task to complete. Tell them that the leader gets to make all the important decisions in how the task will be carried out.
4) Explain that once groups start working leaders may leave the group and hang out together at the leader table.
5) At the leader table put out chips, candy and soda. The leaders may eat as much as they like. They also may play card games or dice. They make the decisions for their groups but don't actually have to work at all.
I have done this lesson several times in my US classes. The leaders are chosen before explaining the benefits. By the time I'm done defining all the perks the leaders get, my classes are in an uproar. "Thats not fair!" "They really get soda!" "This is stupid!" "How come they don't have to work!" The students get more and more angry until it is almost impossible to control. And I giggle inside. After laboring day after day to be understood it is delightfully fun to completely confuse the students. But all quickly wraps up. We break up, they don't finish the project and instead we discuss power distribution and relate it to the history (or the current world.)
Now in China one of my classes is covering WWI, including how Europe was largely governed by wealthy monarchies. Well, I thought, time to break out my trusty lesson and fire up the students! So I bought some snacks and drinks and decided that each group would draw a major continent and label the battles that took place upon that continent while the leaders snacked and played Trivial Pursuit.
I was ready on this day to get a good laugh at the students' outrage. But things started strangely: leaders stayed with their groups, helping them to get a good start. With a little prodding from me the leaders made there way back to their special table and started snacking. The other students were so busy at work in their groups they barely payed attention to the leaders. "This is weird!" I thought, so I went to stir things up. I went around to each group asking if they thought this was fair. Their reaction was almost as if the question was irrelevant. A simple shoulder shrug was the most common response.
I thought for a bit and decided to see how long this could go. Then I saw something that truly amazed me... The leaders returning to their groups and sharing their snacks, equally, among all members! All of them in every group! Every person in the class got something to eat! I watched with my jaw on the floor and figured why would I stop them. I let them work for the rest of the class. At the end of the class I asked them, "did this activity seem like it was well planned? Was this fair?" Only one student thought the situation was very unfair and many students said yes, totally fair.
This would never, ever happen in the US! We are taught to demand our rights and our share from day one. It is in our blood! In my current school, largely populated with Singaporean, Korean, Chinese and Japanese students, it is very unusual to issue a direct challenge to authority. Students would rather follow unfair directions then make a fuss. Or rather, making a fuss about fairness is simply not a part of their reality. This is reflected in the larger population as well. People don't spend a lot of energy expecting fairness from leadership, they simply enjoy the good and move on from the bad.
So back to the drawing board. Anybody got any ideas about how I can outrage my students?
1) Divide students groups of 4 or 5.
2) Make one student in each group the leader.
3) Give each group a large task to complete. Tell them that the leader gets to make all the important decisions in how the task will be carried out.
4) Explain that once groups start working leaders may leave the group and hang out together at the leader table.
5) At the leader table put out chips, candy and soda. The leaders may eat as much as they like. They also may play card games or dice. They make the decisions for their groups but don't actually have to work at all.
I have done this lesson several times in my US classes. The leaders are chosen before explaining the benefits. By the time I'm done defining all the perks the leaders get, my classes are in an uproar. "Thats not fair!" "They really get soda!" "This is stupid!" "How come they don't have to work!" The students get more and more angry until it is almost impossible to control. And I giggle inside. After laboring day after day to be understood it is delightfully fun to completely confuse the students. But all quickly wraps up. We break up, they don't finish the project and instead we discuss power distribution and relate it to the history (or the current world.)
Now in China one of my classes is covering WWI, including how Europe was largely governed by wealthy monarchies. Well, I thought, time to break out my trusty lesson and fire up the students! So I bought some snacks and drinks and decided that each group would draw a major continent and label the battles that took place upon that continent while the leaders snacked and played Trivial Pursuit.
I was ready on this day to get a good laugh at the students' outrage. But things started strangely: leaders stayed with their groups, helping them to get a good start. With a little prodding from me the leaders made there way back to their special table and started snacking. The other students were so busy at work in their groups they barely payed attention to the leaders. "This is weird!" I thought, so I went to stir things up. I went around to each group asking if they thought this was fair. Their reaction was almost as if the question was irrelevant. A simple shoulder shrug was the most common response.
I thought for a bit and decided to see how long this could go. Then I saw something that truly amazed me... The leaders returning to their groups and sharing their snacks, equally, among all members! All of them in every group! Every person in the class got something to eat! I watched with my jaw on the floor and figured why would I stop them. I let them work for the rest of the class. At the end of the class I asked them, "did this activity seem like it was well planned? Was this fair?" Only one student thought the situation was very unfair and many students said yes, totally fair.
This would never, ever happen in the US! We are taught to demand our rights and our share from day one. It is in our blood! In my current school, largely populated with Singaporean, Korean, Chinese and Japanese students, it is very unusual to issue a direct challenge to authority. Students would rather follow unfair directions then make a fuss. Or rather, making a fuss about fairness is simply not a part of their reality. This is reflected in the larger population as well. People don't spend a lot of energy expecting fairness from leadership, they simply enjoy the good and move on from the bad.
So back to the drawing board. Anybody got any ideas about how I can outrage my students?
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